Handling Aggressive Cats

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Handling Aggressive Cats:

Normally, people will bring their new cat or kitten home and expect a loving friendly feline, who will be happy to immediately lay cozily in their lap. It is unlikely that any cat will be confident enough to adjust so quickly and easily to a new home and to new people.

However, apart from the initial short time that the cat will need to get used to her new living environment, most cats will adjust easily in new homes in a relatively short space of time.

However, some cats will remain fearful of their new surroundings despite the patient care and handling from their new owner. Such s situation may be the start of a long-term problem, if not addressed.

Handling Aggressive Cats

If the fearful and anxious situation continues, you will most likely end up with a constantly stressed and unhappy cat.

Understanding cat behavior is critical if you are handling an aggressive cat or to stop cat biting behavior. Unlike treating aggressive dog behavior, which usually simply requires re-training the dog, handling an aggressive cat usually needs a little more.

A quick tip here;, before you try anything it is recommended that you take precautionary measures and trim your cat’s claws. Trimming the claws should actually be a regular practice.

It is normal for owners to confuse playful aggression in cats with the more serious straight aggression. Cats will play aggressively simply because of their survival instincts.

Play activities of cats include cautious, exploratory and investigative behaviors. This may appear as aggressive behavior to owners who may have other expectations from their cat.

Play that looks like aggression may be initiated by the owner or the cat himself. Never use your fingers or your hands and feet as toys for your cat. Don’t play rough, play fighting games.

And certainly never resort to any form of physical punishment. Cats are not likely to understand the association of the punishment with any act that they have done. On the contrary, they are much more likely to associate it with the person who metes out the punishment.

A much better options is to try to divert the cat’s attention away, and offer toys so that he can play in a manner that is more acceptable to you.

Although domesticated cats have all their food available at home, they will naturally practice their hunting skills. For some inexplicable reason, some cats tend to get fed up with petting very quickly. keep an eye out for the signals that resemble predatory behavior towards you, and stop petting the cat the moment you see her eye start to shift around, or the ears being flattened back and her tail starting to twitch.

Cats are instinctive hunters. If you have small pocket pets at home, keep them out of reach of the cat. A cat may play with a pet canary, but is equally capable of killing and eating it, some other time when you are not around. Also, cats are expert predators like tigers and should not be let outside alone. They are likely to really enjoy predatory killing once they get a taste of the hunt.

Maternal dog aggression seems soft when compared to the maternal aggression of cats. Cats are very protective mothers and therefore it is best never to disturb a cat when she is with her kittens. Such aggression usually disappears as the kittens grow up.

Kittens require a significant amount of socializing when they are young. Cat biting is common with cats that have been weaned off their mothers too early. As they grow up, their mother teaches them manners and how to control aggression. Early weaning means that they can miss out on these important life lessons.

If you have brought a kitten that has not had enough time with siblings, gradual introduction to other cats will slowly but surely teach him that aggression is not acceptable.

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